Tao of Guerra

Character (Model) Sheets

Today we’re going to talk about the importance character sheets. It doesn’t matter if you’re creating comics, animation or designing for TV or movies. Many times we creative types get caught up in the heat of the creative moment and draw all of our ideas in a blur of frenzied activity. That’s great, especially while the initial idea is fresh, but once the euphoria wears off, I highly recommend drawing out character sheets.

A character sheet (model sheet for animators) involves drawings of posed characters to help provide you with a reference template. They usually include a character’s head and body from various angles (a process known as “model rotation“), as well as sketches of the character’s hands and feet, and several basic facial expressions.

Don’t fall for the old, “I know my characters so well, I don’t need characters sheets.” You will forever thank yourself later for having something to refer to. And nothing works better to help you solidify the look and personality of a character; how they appear, what they wear, body language, expressions, gestures, etc. It definitely helps you avoid headaches and inconsistencies later on.

Let’s review the process. You get a fantastic idea for a great character. You draw something in your sketchbook – woohoo! It’s kick ass! Here’s my first sketch of Catalina from Samurai Elf. A wise cracking pirate and captain of her own ship.

Later I decided to revisit that character and draw out and solidify her face. As I did this, she took on a life of her own and was less Manga looking than the original.

Sometimes, a character evolves over time, but other times I’m dead sure of what I want. The character is already defined in my mind and just need some fine-tuning in my sketches, especially for the costume. I like flipping through books on different historical periods for ideas.

When I’m working on a new project, I like to have one sketchbook dedicated to only those characters, machines, settings,… anything you can think of. I sketch out a character sheet for all of my characters, no matter how minor.

Benefits Include:

Angles
As I’m drawing out my sequential pages and get stuck on a certain angle (what would they look like if they were looking straight up, ¾ from above or below, etc), I can refer to the character sheets for just the angle I’m looking for.

Costume
Fantastic reference for clothing, accessories, weapons,…anything at all that the character might wear or carry.


Color Palettes
Having a characters color worked out ahead of time saves you so much time later on. This includes skin, hair, eyes, clothing, accessories, weapons, etc. I look working this out before I start to computer color or paint. Here’s a sample of my character, the knight Robert B. Astard. I made sure to nail his colors before I started to paint my pages.


Locations/Settings
If there are houses, buildings, rooms, outdoor scenes, etc., where a large scene or multiple scenes will take place, I find it very helpful to do separate sheets for these. I draw the same room/location from different angles and I include what appears in the room, i.e., furniture, windows, drapery, books, etc.

If you take the time to do these when you’re really serious about developing an idea, character sheets will save you from coping with many consistency problems you might run into later on. It’s one less thing to worry about later when you’re focusing on the panels, the page layouts, and the coloring. It’s the best reference you can give yourself.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

Every once in awhile I get these obvious thoughts that cross my brain, at least in retrospect they’re obvious. Being an artist in a static medium these days can be really tough. Comics and graphic novels are always competing with all more exciting mediums like television, movies, and the might video game. And all of these mediums share one thing in common - movement. People will always watch things over reading them. Why? It’s easier, faster, you name it. How much of it has to do with the human psyche associating life with movement and static or inanimate with death?

Maybe I’m over analyzing. But movement is something I fight hard to bring into my work. I think cartoonists need to aware that we are really fighting an uphill battle for peoples’ attention. So, how can we work around it? If we keep it in minds that the frames we draw are moments in time, that one should connect and lead to the next, then it makes them more dynamic (to borrow a Marvel term). If you need to drop a perfect anatomy or movement, screw perfection. It almost always ends up looking stiff anyway. And if you’re drawing sequentially, it’s no contest.

People will always be attracted to something that looks natural and fluid over someone’s technique or how perfect a body part is. Giving body movement and personality to your characters will always win out. Having the whole package is the pinnacle, but we all need to focus on certain things as we build our skills. Sometimes accuracy can be the enemy of movement and dynamism. And once you spend hours on a drawing, you’re not going to want to erase. Get the movement and frame layouts first, then work in the drawing. Anyhow, that’s what was on my mind.

What’s the difference between coloring and painting? Most books that focus on comics stick to comic book coloring, which is mostly flats with some shadows and highlights. My rule of thumb is that if you see a black outline (or even a different colored outline) it’s coloring. If you no longer see the line because you've painted over your sketch, then it’s a painting. Here’s what I mean…


Captain Marvel is basically flats with a strong ink line.

For Wolverine I added more shading, shadows and highlights, but there’s still a strong ink line that defines the illustration.


My version of Lorna by Alfonso Azpiri is a watercolor painting, but I kept my sketch lines prominent. Even though I used colors to give shape and volume to the illustration, the objects are still defined by a black outline. The initial drawing is not changed during the coloring process.


In contrast to these three is my take on the Joker. I've painted over my initial sketch so there's no outline surrounding anything. The edges are created as you paint.


Painting is intimidating, especially when you’re used to comic style coloring, at least it was for me. You don’t realize how much of a crutch that outline is until you get rid of it. Suddenly, you’re not coloring between the lines. There is no line! You have to use shades and tones and palettes to compensate. Whether you use traditional or digital painting, it’s a real eye opener to see your drawing for what is it, without a nice ink job to pop it all out. You have to paint right over your pencils (whether you do it on paper, or scan in your pencils) and often times you’ll not only have to worry about the painting, but correcting the sketch. There’s no point in doing a perfect sketch since you’re going to paint over it anyway. Like all things, as you practice, things start to work themselves out. It’s always interesting to flip between the initial sketch and the finished painting. It’s a big accomplishment to see how far you took your art.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

I remember back in the day when I picked up my first “How to Draw Manga” book. I flipped through it and was amazed by how much I was learning, even though it was written in Japanese (published by Graph-Sha) and I couldn’t read a word of it! As I kept buying more volumes in the series I saw a profound difference improvement in my work, especially when they started to publish them in English the next year. I highly recommend these, not just to learn the manga style (that might not be your thing), but for movement, clothing, fight scenes, backgrounds, objects, animals, you name it. The series is very thorough and you can pick up specific books that appeal to you.

The flip side of success is imitation - bad imitation. There are so many books out there that jumped on the bandwagon and claimed to teach manga, but most were awful. They’re just trying to make a quick buck and think slapping big eyes on every character is enough. Oh, how little they know! There are so many styles of manga. Do we say that the illustrations in kids books are indicative of all graphic novels? Is Dr. Seuss the same as “The Dark Knight Returns”? Is “Pokemon” the same as “Deathnote”? Of course not.

Due to the proliferation of bad instructional books, people who are curious should not confuse knock offs with the original books from Japan (How to Draw Manga, Let's Draw Manga, etc). There’s so much that they break down so it’s easy to understand, they provide a fantastic resource. The series covers a wide range of subjects and skill levels, from beginner techniques to advanced. I find I often go back to books on mechanical objects like robots, cars, gun, tanks, even zombies. You name it, and they’ve already done a book on it.

Here are some volumes from the “How to Draw Manga” and the “Let’s Draw Manga” series that I found helpful for reference and inspiration when I was stuck for ideas. They’re mostly for an intermediate skill level, but anyone can learn from them. All I can say is that I keep going back to them again and again. I’ve seen a marked improvement in my work, and I’ve gained more of a polished professional look. They help me with anything I draw and any style I draw in, and if you’ve seen my work you know I draw in whatever style I feel like at the time. The lessons apply across the board.

“Manga Matrix: Create Unique Characters Using the Japanese Matrix System” by Hiroyoshi Tsukamoto
This is one of my favorite reference books for inspiration on creating unique characters. I think this book deserves a post of it’s own. It uses a Japanese system, where you can plot and cross-section elements on a matrix diagram to create an infinite number of original characters, creatures, beasts, angels, demons, dragons, monsters, and robots. For example, why not break the laws of nature and create a bird attacking fish? Just combine a swordfish x flying fish x marine bird, transform the gills into wings, and transform a crustacean’s skin into a beak. How a rock x bulldog x gorilla + tulip for a tail + horns? This book helps give your imagination a starting point so you don’t have to stare at a blank page.

“How to Draw Manga (volume 28): Couples” by Hiraku Hayashi
This is the only book I’ve come across that teaches how to work two figures into a shot. It has pages of effective poses that you can use as reference. Drawing two bodies together can be one of the more difficult things you can draw, and this book helps to break it down into manageable pieces. It even references differences in male and female arm lengths when they wrap around each other. It’s not a beginner book, so you need some basic anatomy and drawing skills going in, but we all need to keep working on the basics.

“How to Draw Manga (volume 29): Putting Things into Perspective” by K’s Art
This book is invaluable! It doesn’t just cover 1st, 2nd, and 3rd point perspective, but it also teaches you how to draw slopes (up & down). It uses indoor and outdoor examples from real life so your backgrounds are solid. It also covers everything from basic standing, to multiple characters with varying heights so they don’t look like they’re above or below the perspective plane. It even gets into complicated shots like a fish bowl lens. Again, this isn’t a beginner book.

“How to draw Manga (volume 32): Mech. Drawing” by Katsuya Yamakami
When I need to do any mechanical drawing, I pull out this book. It covers everything: bicycles, robots, androids and space stations, using just 4 elements (metal, glass, rubber, plastic). It helps you lay down a solid knowledge base from which you can draw whatever mechanical monstrosity you can think or fantastic marvel you can think of. It breaks down the process so you can take what’s in your mind and put it down on paper.

“Let's Draw Manga: Transforming Robots” by Yasuhiro Nitta
This takes you through the transformation process using Gobots and Power Rangers robots so it’s easy to understand. And why not? PLEX dseigned those toys, so they’re a great reference for how to draw them. It takes everyday vehicles and folds them into robots with proper proportions.

“How To Draw Manga (volume 6): Martial Arts & Combat Sports” by Hikaru Hayashi and Kunichika Harada
This book helps you get away from the typical haymaker style fight you see in most comics. It covers a variety of fighting styles, including judo, karate, kendo, boxing etc., and street fights. It also covers both men and women, which is a big plus. I was trained in martial arts and it helped me break down the movements like nothing else I’ve come across. Depicting a fight is a lot different than being in one. It teaches how to draw kicks, punches, throws, grappling, etc. It even covers martial uniforms for both sexes, in case you want your characters to wear the appropriate clothes. It doesn’t cover facial expressions very much, but there are other books in the series to help you with that. This is straight up martial arts and fighting.

“How to Draw Manga (volume 23): Illustrating Battles” by Hikaru Hayashi
This book covers Chinese martial arts, pro-wrestling techniques, Akido and other fighting arts. It focuses on the dramatic side of a fight, not so much the technical poses and body movements. This helps you give your scenes a strong emotional impact. It also offers you great tips on how to add details that add a sense of reality to your drawings. For example, there are comments on almost every page with tips on things like like how to add bruises (from slight to someone call a doctor!), how give clothes that battle worn look, how to make a face look swollen, and other types of physical damage. It covers straight up punches and kicks to how characters scramble to their feet after being hit. There’s even a catfight that goes into the movement of clothes and fabric (in school girl uniforms – of course).

“How to Draw Manga (volume 24): Occult & Horror” by Hikaru Hayashi
Great reference for anyone drawing horror, fantasy, or magic based work. It offers many ideas and techniques, like how to make the insides of a zombie fall out of their mid-sections in just the right way, or how to draw a severed limb. It also shows you how to draw moody and dark backgrounds. Gory and gorgeous stuff!

“How To Draw Manga (volume 38): Ninja & Samurai Portrayal” by Team Esaka and “Let's Draw Manga: Ninja and Samurai” by Hidefumi Okuma

These book provide historical reference for characters. They cover period costumes, hairstyles, assorted faces, props, armor, and weapons for various types of ninja clans (both sexes) and samurai. They also review motion, fabric movement, poses, how to hold and use the different types of weapons, how to wield a sword, how to strike, stances, where the characters feet should be, etc. They not only cover the costumes, but the undergarments and who they were worn.


“How to Draw Anime & Game Characters” series by Tadashi Ozawa
This series starts with “Basics for Beginner” which covers manga and anime style drawing, but also video game design. It has step-by-set instructions on drawing male and female characters, from young to old, how to add expression to the face and body movements, clothing, and accessories. The rest of the series goes into detail on expressing emotions, everyday mannerisms, body language, and character design.

“Let's Draw Manga: Fantasy” by Noriko Tsubota and Big Mouth Factory
I use this as resources to help me sort of think and be inspired or sometimes straight out reference. For example in the monster book it teaches you as system on how to create different looking monsters. Every once in a while when I feel that every monster I’m drawing looks the same I turn to that book.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

Short stories may give you a new lease on your imagination. Since they don’t require the commitment of a comic or a full graphic novel, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. That’s true both for the story and the art style. Get as crazy as you want since it’s not a big investment or your time. You can work on your story telling and plot development (keeping it short and to the point isn’t always so easy), expand on your art skills (get out of your comfort zone), and give yourself the sense of accomplishment when you’re done.

It took almost two years to complete the first two volumes of my graphic novel series, Samurai Elf – a mammoth undertaking. It sucked a lot of energy out of my creative juices, so during the break in between, I wrote and illustrated a 4-page short story called, “Bed Bugs” that was published in Heavy Metal (July 2007). It felt great to finish something so quickly and the style was something new for me.

Since then I’ve realized the major benefits of short stories, which I’ve listed here:

1. Time saver.


2. Keeps you sane.


3. Might bring in some extra cash.


4. Some ideas as too short for a comic series or a book, but they’re still good ideas. Don’t you hate reading something that has a great idea, but they drag it on too long?
   
5. 
   It’s a huge challenge to write not just a prose short story, but a sequential short story in 1-8 pages, where every panel is prime real estate.


6. Helps you to grow as a writer, storyteller and/or an artist.


7. Immense sense of fulfillment once you are done.


8. A chance to break free from the usual. Experiment with everything, even your sequence or looking camera shots.


9. Try different genres.


10. Different methods of coloring to suit the stories.


11. Improves your storytelling for both small and large projects.


12. Opens your mind up to new ideas. From every short story I do, a new river of ideas flows.

The best advice I can give? Keep it simple, but compelling. A lot of editing may be necessary, but you’ll love the end result. If you want to publish your stories, do some research on different magazines. Find out the submission editor’s name and address, how long the story should be for their publication, and always match the genre to the magazine.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

For every story, the author must create a world that the reader can get lost in. Fantasy or speculative fiction worlds need even more detailed work to be convincing. Easier said than done. It’s sort of like building a car. You can play with the design, the purpose (make it fly, swim, hover, travel through time,..), what it’s made of, the color, etc., but you still need a solid engine that lasts. The strength of the engine depends on how much effort you put into building the world around your story.

How do you take your ideas and give them structure? This was the foremost question on my mind when I first thought of “Samurai Elf®.” I had the idea, but there’s a world of difference between a figment of my imagination and a fully developed concept. I turned to my old friend – books. Whenever I need ideas or inspiration, I flip through books to get my creative juices flowing. Here are some ideas to help you build your world so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

Anyone interested in creating a world should read George MacDonald’s essay, “The Fantastic Imagination.” If you’ve never heard of George MacDonald, he’s the guy J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis looked to for inspiration. What’s some of his no nonsense advice? Make a world that is grounded in common sense. Once you’ve established a rule, don’t break it. If only Hollywood followed these two simple rules! If you think those rules sound familiar, many have repeated them, but not given credit to MacDonald who lived from 1824-1905. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“The natural world has its laws, and no man must interfere with them in the way of presentment any more than in the way of use; but they themselves may suggest laws of other kinds, and man may, if he pleases, invent a little world of his own, with its own laws; for there is that in him which delights in calling up new forms--which is the nearest, perhaps, he can come to creation…

His world once invented, the highest law that comes next into play is, that there shall be harmony between the laws by which the new world has begun to exist; and in the process of his creation, the inventor must hold by those laws. The moment he forgets one of them, he makes the story, by its own postulates, incredible. To be able to live a moment in an imagined world, we must see the laws of its existence obeyed. Those broken, we fall out of it...

A man's inventions may be stupid or clever, but if he does not hold by the laws of them, or if he makes one law jar with another, he contradicts himself as an inventor, he is no artist.”

“How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy” by Orson Scott Card and “Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy,” by David Gerrold helped me to think of all of the details that a world needs to successfully draw in the reader. Card discusses the mechanics of the story, such as plot, pacing and characterization. But most importantly, it helps you understand how to edit your own work and give it a formal polish. Card’s book focuses on science fiction writing, but it’s really a book on writing good fiction. Gerrold discusses working within a logical framework when you're creating your own world. He emphasizes that, "you have to write each moment as if you lived it yourself." This book is not a specific checklist on what to cover, but it helps give you inspiration (always welcome) and encourages you to stay within the logistics of your world.

These books can go a long way to helping you to flesh out your ideas. It gave me a structure to work with; a starting point. They can help you to organize your thoughts and dig deeper into your story. For example, what’s the weather like? Is there magic? What kind of technology do they use? What kinds of religions do they follow? What’s their political structure? Is it a tribal society, or a modern or advanced society? Both Card and Gerrold ask a lot of questions. If you answer them all, you'll be able to breathe life into your world and the characters that live in it.

Another tip I use is to save articles that give me ideas. News and science stories are always good for future reference. Sometimes you read something and it helps you to fill in small details, other times it causes a maelstrom of ideas. I encourage anything that sparks that “what if?” moment in my brain. Another advantage of using articles is they can help make your fantastical idea plausible.

There’s a great new writing software called Scrivener that lets you type, bring in pictures, use note cards, link to supporting docs and reference materials, and almost anything you can do with paper, except it saves it in one file. It saves you from having to go through files full of paper. Keeping yourself organized will keep your story organized. The only drawback is that it’s only available for Macs.

Some great fiction books I’ve read that sparked many ideas include, “Dune,” the foundation series by Asimov, and the “Lord of the Rings” series. On the comics front, “Watchmen,” “Battle Angel Alita,” and “Ghost in a Shell” are great examples of worlds that completely immerse you. They show you the power of having thought through all aspects of the story, leaving no room for plot holes or awkward moments due to inconsistent storytelling.

Be creative, go wild! Just remember to give your plot a solid structure, your world plausible rules, and of course, great characters. Fantasy in the realm of possibility makes your story believable.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

The Fifth Dimension
Back in the day when I sat down to read Michio Kaku’s Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension. Wait a minute! What do parallel universes have to do with art? Art and science share a great many things in common, but you’re right, I’ll get to the point. Kaku described the early decades of the 1900s as a time when people were fascinated with the fourth dimension. Artists were obsessed with how to portray multiple dimensions. Ever thought about what Picasso was doing when he painted all of those disjointed looking people in his “modern art” pieces? He was trying to illustrate how images without a set fixed point would appear. If we can’t see into the fourth dimension, then higher dimensional beings would look like blobs or disjointed beings. When you understand what Picasso was trying So next time you think Picasso was smoking something, you might think twice and realize that he was trying to do something most people today still cannot begin to conceive. Picasso was brilliant in his observations and mixing that with his imagination. Here’s a great quote from Hyperspace:

“Picasso was once accosted on a train by a stranger who recognized him. The stranger complained: Why couldn’t he draw pictures of people the way they actually were? Why did he have to distort the way people looked? Picasso then asked the man to show him pictures of his family. After gazing at the snapshot, Picasso replied, “Oh, is your wife really that small and flat?” To Picasso, any picture, no matter how “realistic,” depended on the perspective of the observer.”

Drawing Realistically
This may seem like a strange introduction to a post on realism, but it’s an important place to start. Many times, artists forget that we’re drawing on a flat surface. We’re not re-creating reality like a photograph, we are interpreting reality and then creating a representation of it through a series of dabs, lines and scratches. Perhaps every artist at some point wants to achieve an ultra realistic style. Although this poses its own set of problems for comics, seeing that there aren’t big bold black lines outlining living things. So, trying to achieve realism with an ink line is next to impossible.

Balance
I like having my own style that falls somewhere in between realistic and cartoony. Drawing realistically is an important skill and helps you to hone in your craft and challenge you. But when you choose a style in which to draw, more often than not, the more realistic art is the less emotion it can express. In general, the harder you try to make a face look real, the more dead it appears. Emotion comes from the exaggeration of the eyes, eyebrows, mouth and body language. I think that’s why artists who are completely in the realism camp like to draw things more than people. Cars, buildings, everyday objects…things that don’t express emotion.

Curiosity Makes an Artist
Parents often push their children into adopting a realistic style. This is especially true in the west, where we have the perception that the more realistic something is, the better it is. The drawback to realism is that you don’t get to fully exercise your imagination. If you’re too busy developing your skills as an artistic stenographer, meaning someone who’s concerned with drawing things exactly as they see them, that can be frustrating and unsatisfying, especially for young artists. It’s like taking a left handed child and forcing them to use their right hand.

People need to choose their own style (or multiple styles) and develop that, not what someone else imposes on you. As individuals, there are certain tendencies that we naturally gravitate to. If not, all art would look the same and what a boring world that would be. Even among realistic artists there are differences. The important thing for growing as an artist is to try new things. The best way I know to do this is to switch up your style. Get out of your comfort zone. If you are more drawn to realism, try drawing cartoony and vice versa.

People have a tendency to pick the path of least resistance. How many artists do you know whose art never changes? I don’t mean that their publisher only buys a certain style so that’s what you see most of the time, but their overall portfolio looks almost exactly the same, year after year. How boring! As an artist, you should be hunting for new ways to do things; hungry to improve. Why? If you’re not curious and constantly developing new and better ways to do something, then you’re not an artist. It’s that simple. It’s what drives you.

Next time you get a chance, go to a museum and see paintings from some masters. I recommend this over books since prints never do the original painting justice. Take a close look and see how the brush strokes eventually build up to create an illusion that you can fully appreciate when you step back. They knew they couldn’t reproduce the real, so they found ways to fool your eye.

What do you think? Realistic or Cartoony?

Comics has to be one of the toughest mediums on the artist, mainly because they have to be ready and able to draw just about anything. Understanding perspective is a must, and in my view, the most important skill because if things appear “off,” the reader instantly notices, even if they can’t put their finger on why.

Perspective! for Comic Book Artists is not your run of the mill book instructional book. It’s laid out entirely in a comic book format, so each panel on each page helps to get the point across. Chelsea uses a running dialogue between himself and the reader which I think works very well. If you’ve read Scott Macleod’s Understanding Comics, you know what I mean. Teaching perspective while doing it in the format in which it applies is a great idea. The entire book is an example of how to use perspective in ‘real life’ (real comic life) scenarios. I highly recommend this book as an essential in a comic artist’s library. Here's the link to the book on Amazon, http://tinyurl.com/cn98qg


Post by Miguel & Suzy

I remember many years ago waiting in line to get Will Eisner’s autograph at my local comic store. At the time I was studying film and debating whether I should pursue my dream of drawing comics. While I was dead last in line, I could hear the guy in front, who was getting his books signed by Will, say something about film and comics being the same. Will seemed to find the topic amusing. He chuckled and politely disagreed. He said they’re more like cousins than brothers. I understood exactly what he meant, although the guy in line didn’t seem to get it. Anyone who has read Eisner’s Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative would understand his point of view on the subject. Another good resource is Scott Macleod’s, Understanding Comics.

This memory popped back into my noggin when I read an MTV interview with Alan Moore about his thoughts on films and comics. He raised some very interesting points. Here’s an excerpt, “In comics the reader is in complete control of the experience. They can read it at their own pace, and if there's a piecalan moore, art, books, comics, digital, film, graphic, graphic novels, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, medium, miguel guerra,paintine of dialogue that seems to echo something a few pages back, they can flip back and check it out, whereas the audience for a film is being dragged through the experience at the speed of 24 frames per second. So even for a director like Terry Gilliam, who delights in cramming background details into his movies, there's no way he'd be able to duplicate what Dave Gibbons was able to do in Watchmen. We could place almost subliminal details in every panel, and we knew that the reader could take the time to spot everything. There's no way you could do that in a film.”

Since I studied film and have pursued art, I can appreciate the strengths of both mediums. A book has the advantage of limitless length (short, long, multiple volumes). It ignites the imagination since the reader is an active participant. The reader decides how the characters look, what they sound like, and fill in all the missing details. Have you ever read a comic, then looked at it again years later and said to yourself, “I thought this was more detailed.” Your mind filled in all the extras and made it seem more real.

Film on the other hand is recorded, edited and played back to a captive audience. The visual elements of film give motion pictures a universal power of communication. People can instantly be educated (or indoctrinated) by the recorded images that are whizzing past them. Film is powerful because the message of the film is instantly transmitted to the audience, who passively sits, watching and listening. That doesn’t mean no one thinks while they watch a movie. Some movies provoke though and discussion. But whether you think or not is up to you. The movie will continue, regardless of your brain wave activity.

Then there’s animation, which bridges the gap between film and comics. In my opinion, it’s closer to graphic storytelling; like detailed storyboards. Animation is like the crazy half-brother to comics. You want proof of the close relationship? Windsor McKay and Osamu Tezuka were pioneers of both comics/manga and animation. Hey, that’s a good topic for another post, but I digress.

What really makes movies fabulous is motion. Good old 24 frames per second. I’ve always thought this lack of motion in comics is a hurdle. Japanese manga artists are great at this, and can teach us a few things about a good speed chase or fight scene. Motion in comics is in itself a skill to be mastered. Movies can also pan in and out. Comics can do a good job of this, although it’s not quite the same. The reader has to fill in the motion between the key frames. The artist has to have superior page layouts to give the impression of motion. Music is the other huge difference. It can get you mad as hell or tug at your heart strings. I’m afraid comics can’t offer that (although animation can).

What are some of the limitations of film as a story telling method? Hollywood movies are almost always plot driven. One of the biggest drawbacks to movies is the time constraint. The entire movie is constructed not around the story or character development, but how it can all be told within a set time limit. The script, directing, cinematography, acting and editing are all done with a fixed boundary. Movies also have to deal with astronomical budgets. Even an independent film costs tens of thousands of dollars. It’s hard to afford anything.

Where do comics fit in? Comics are basically books with pictures (graphic novels, ah, now I get it!). They use the active and passive parts of your brain. A twilight medium if you will. They eliminate the need for both excessive text and excessive detail. They also have the strength of not being constrained by time (although comics are only 22 pages, while graphic novels end when the writer/artist decides). The reader gets to imagine voices and some details, but still gets to see what the characters look like. And let’s not forget that you need to be literate in order to enjoy them. My mother used to say if there are comics in the house, there will eventually be books.

So what else makes comics different than movies? You don’t need a massive budget to create a comic or graphic novel. There are no limits to the story or the character designs. The reader can start and stop whenever they have time and even take them wherever they go. While comics can be limited by a cliff hanger at the end of every comic, they can compensate by writing as many issues as they want…or as many as the publisher wants. My experience is with graphic novels, so I have the luxury of ending my book as the story dictates. I don’t have to worry about a fixed length and then work backwards from there. As my co-writer Suzy Dias says, “It ends when it ends.” A book (graphic novel) should dictate its own story and its length. This even allows you to meander away from the main plot, something you never have time to do with a movie. You can use this technique to impart the history of a place, delve into a side character, have a flashback, or anything else. That’s not to say that you forget good storytelling. There’s no point in veering from the main plot if it hurts the overall story, or worse yet, bores the reader. However, it can be a useful tool when used correctly.

A good comic artist and writer understands the strengths and limitations. Looking back, I agree with Eisner’s assessment. Today I understand more deeply what he meant. Know thy medium!

Post by Miguel & Suzy

Many people have asked about my workflow and what programs I use, so I thought I’d cover the workflow part this week and the programs on another day. The best example I can think of is taking you through a typical day when I was working on my graphic novel, Samurai Elf.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

I just received the latest issue of Image Fx and what did I find? An interview with and a tutorial by David Gibbons, artist of the Watchmen. In the tutorial he talks about using Manga Studio to ink. What a coincidence. It ties nicely into my current blog posting. Here's the link
http://www.imaginefx.com/

So what is digital inking? Until a few years ago, it sounded like a mythological creation like Medusa, the Hydra or Godzilla. By Great Zeus, Manga EX is no figment of someone’s imagination. It’s a fantastic inking program and I can’t say enough about it. It’s now a major part of my process.

Now let’s step into the present. The one thing I never got used to was inking over my pencils. I put a lot of work into those damn drawings and I don’t always want to part with them. Now I get to scan in my pencil illustrations and sketches and keep the originals. Most people don’t mention this, but when you scan in your inks, they’re messy! Even if you do a great job and the inks seem clean to your eye, once you scan them in you see dots and smears everywhere from both the pencils and the inks. The clean up time required when we did Samurai Elf (vol. 1): Set Apart was insane! Suzy Dias (my co-writer) and I had to use Photoshop to adjust the levels and the brightness/contrast. The catch is that the cleaner you get the white(paper), the more you lose on the black (inks). It added so much time to our process that I was desperate to find something more efficient for volume 2.

Manga EX was like manna from heaven. The precision is fantastic! Instead of using that old magnifying light over your drawing desk, just zoom in - as much as you like. The amount of detail you add is completely up to you. I can get the straightest lines, the curviest ellipses and the roundest French curves for precise perspective, which beats using rulers. Most artists hate using rulers because they’re a pain in the butt. It’s easier to draw freestyle, Manga EX makes inking everything from buildings to cars to high tech devices easy. Samurai Elf had so many architectural and tech elements that it allowed me to keep things looking more ‘real.’ It’s actually improved my drafting skills.

Here's a step by step look at the inking process, starting with my scanned in pencils through until my finished inks.





Undo
My hands down favorite, which beats traditional inking every time.

Layers
The ability to separate my perspective lines from the rest of my inks is a little piece of heaven.



Erase
Mistakes happen and being able to simply rub out an error is a big relief. Sometimes you simply change your mind about a line. Whatever the case, erase is a thing of beauty for any inker.

Zoom
Magnify as much as you want. I’ve been able to add so much detail that I sometimes surprise myself. Traditional inks would never allow for it, especially when you’re dealing with deadlines. Adding complexity to backgrounds and detail to clothing is now more accessible to everyone.

Pencil
I use often use the pencil tool when I feel a drawing needs to be reworked. If you combine this with the Zoom tool, you’re off to the races. A tip is to add a layer, decrease the opacity so you can see the original pencils beneath, then make your changes.

Speedlines
Everything from adding emotion to high speed chases is at your fingertips. Speedlines is what originally attracted me to Manga EX. When I did Samurai Elf (vol. 1): Set Apart, I wanted to use more speedlines, but didn’t have the tools or the time to learn. I added them using PhotoShop with limited success. I also had a big problem with the black not staying true black.

I did not want to have to deal with that on Bull’s Eye (vol. 2), especially since it was in colour and I wanted to try using different coloured speedlines. Not only did the speedlines work out, I also discovered how to turn focus lines into contours, which gives rounded objects, like a fist or a foot, that high speed feeling.

Easy to Use
I really enjoy the fuss-free and straight forward interface. Anyone at any skill level can easily use this program.

Time
The amount of time it takes me to ink is slashed in half. And I don’t have to worry about the expense of ink supplies and paper. Just one inexpensive software program does everything.

http://my.smithmicro.com/win/mangaex/

Now before your feathers start to get ruffled, allow me to share a bit about myself. I grew up with a computer engineer for a father. This was back in the day when no other kids’ families had computers. I still remember him coming home with rolls of that old dot matrix printer paper and he and my brother would go through it all and check the code. When I was the ripe old age of nine, my father said to me, “Anyone who doesn’t learn how to use computers will be left behind in the 20th century when the 21st century arrives.” How true. Flash forward to today. You’re reading my blog, surfing the net, maybe paying bills, shopping, joining clubs, networking, etc., all by digital means. A computer is a tool, like a really cool paint brush, hammer, fork, or pen. It’s just another thing that people invented in order to achieve a task.

To counter this computer mindset, I shall introduce my mother. She’s from Spain (as am I), a culture steeped in tradition. Spain has produced many great artists who revolutionized art and helped to push it forward (begrudgingly or otherwise). I have a healthy respect for both tradition and innovation. Whether it’s art, food, graphic design, or sweeping a sidewalk, everyone has an individual way of approaching what they do.

So, with that out of the way, I’ll add my two cents (as is my genetic predisposition) on the subject of whether digital is a lower form of art. I think it’s a waste of time. Maybe those who dislike digital have issues with change born out of fear or indignation of new forms of art. Maybe it’s based on the assumption that since digital techniques are relatively new, they must be hunted down and cast aside like some outcast Frankenstein (or a painting of Frankenstein). Since art has always been a representation of something else (a portrait, landscape, thoughts, emotions, dreams, etc), the way we create art is in itself artificial. Even if you smash berries to create just the right shade and then use your hands to smear it on a cave wall, you’re still creating tools in order to illustrate something. Unless someone can use telepathy to implant images in another person’s mind, we have to use tools that we create. And if you are telepathic and have mastered this technique, please start a blog so we can learn how.


I often think about the first poor sucker who had the inspirational idea to start painting on cave walls. His (insert her/she throughout if you like) fellow cave people probably thought he was crazy, maybe that he was bad luck, or was challenging the very forces of nature! Was he pissing off the guys that drew in the dirt with sticks, who before them aroused the ire of those that drew in the dirt with their fingers? In other words, are people angry about the method, or are they just annoyed that someone is challenging tradition…yet again. Everything traditional was new at some point.

I’m not saying to drop traditional. I like to roll up my sleeves and get my hands full of paints once in while too. I think it boils down to certain people who like to see the same thing over and over again. At some point, someone developed a technique that was proven to work and achieved a certain look that they like. Great. You can continue to like that style, but the rest of us can both enjoy it and move on. We’re complicated like that. Use the old; dabble in the new. Feel free to experiment. Follow your curiosity. This will make whatever method you come up with something that you’re comfortable with and something that’s (dare we say it) original.

Comparing which method is better is like comparing Hokusai to a Dali. It makes no sense. Ukyo-e prints are different than oil paintings, yet they’re beautiful. The birth of crosshatching came about when artists had to etch their art on blocks to make prints. There was no other way to achieving tone. They cleverly used lines to fool the eye. Were there people at the time that considered this a lesser form of art? You bet your ass there were. The more you study history, the more you learn that every time there was something new, the artists that came up with it were ridiculed and ostracized. Take the Impressionists. They didn’t look like the contemporary art of their time, so they were left in the cold until a time came when they didn’t mind the differences. They didn’t judge the technique, the appreciated the art.

Most of the people that I hear argue that ‘traditional is better’ aren’t even artists. They’re not painters or illustrators, but they seem to want to define what ‘art’ is. Let’s look at film and photography. Why is this art? Both methods capture images using a mechanical device. No one labored over the image (we’re not talking makeup and changing the lights, just the actual act of taking a picture). No one says photography is a lesser form of art than painting, but photographs are not hand made images…kind of like digital art (did you like the way I brought that around?). I put more effort into a digital painting than a photographer puts into a photograph. I can be trying to find the right skin shade for the blush on a woman’s cheek in the time it takes them to snap 100 photos. Should writers ditch their computers and use a crow quill? Is it the method or the end product what we admire and enjoy? Where is the line drawn? Who’s to judge?

For years I’ve been trying to add fluidity and expression to my figures so they wouldn’t be so stiff. Soon after I published my first graphic novel, Samurai Elf: Set Apart (vol. 1) with Suzy Dias (shout out), I wanted to do some research on improving the movement in my figures. It’s like they always say, keep up the life drawing.

But, do you ever notice that no matter how much life drawing you do, you hit a wall? I do life drawing whenever I can, but sometimes it takes a little more than just sheer practice to improve your work. You can observe and think and analyze everything you’re doing, but after a certain point, it only reinforces what you already know. You never hit that breakthrough you need to get out of a rut and start learning something new; that euphoric, light bulb moment when galaxies collide in your brain and you feel like you just split the atom. Ok, it ain’t rocket science, but every small step forward makes you that much better at your art.

One of the first books I came across that really delved into movement is Force by Mike Mattesi. It’s an excellent book on how loosen up your figurative work and add fluidity. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for intermediate and advanced artists. It's strange how one small thing (in my case, this book) can become a watershed moment. The proof in my pudding (so to speak) is Samurai Elf: Bull’s Eye (vol. 2). If you compare volumes 1 and 2, my figures were much looser and I was more confident with my linework.

There was still a little worm gnawing at me about my figures. Unfortunately, it was while I was in the middle of volume 2. I had to ignore the relentlessly annoying voice in the back of my head and continue to get the book done and send it off to the printer. Once it was published, and after a couple of drinks and some relaxation, I picked up Will Eisner's Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative.

Sadly, it was Eisner's last book before he passed away, and it was barely completed. Many of the drawings had to be inked by another artist in order to complete the book for print. Damn those printing schedules! But, being a fan of Eisner and admiring the breadth and depth of his understanding of the graphic medium, I thought I should pick it up for my library. I soon learned that Eisner’s motivation for writing Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative was because he felt that there were too many artists today doing great work, but lacking an understanding of emotive anatomy.

Now don’t go trashing your George Bridgman books. This not the run-of-the-mill anatomy book, i.e., the knee bone connected to the thigh bone, and the thigh bone connected to the hip bone,… There are plenty of books for that. It's more of an exploration on how we communicate through body language, hence expressive anatomy - ahhhhh. Unfortunately, learning new things often makes you realize that you’re even more inadequate than you thought. In this case, Mr. Eisner showed me that I was still lacking expression in my body language. You know you’re good when you can kick someone in the nads, post mortem.

On the positive side, I learned quickly and the results were almost immediately evident on my pages. I thought I’d take what I learned out for a spin with a short story called, A Lonely Cry in Space. I noticed that I communicated more emotions through body expression. My characters barely spoke, but you can follow the story and even feel sorry for them. I was much more aware of what I was doing and I believe it made the story richer. Of course I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but practice makes perfect. Later at some point, I'll post some of the exercises that he recommended. Eisner also includes a great history of cartooning and caricature to educate his readers about expression.

To recap, I highly recommend both of these books. I always recommend Will Eisner, but I liked this in particular when it comes to comic/graphic art. Force provides useful techniques for the figurative artist. Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative is great for those who are interested in learning about the different types of emotion and how to better analyze and observe human behavior.

So remember, “Life is too short to waste it in drawing blanks.” Emily Post